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US talks with Turkey about a safe zone in Syria intensified this week before a highly anticipated trip by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Moscow on Wednesday.

Following a visit by US Republican senator Lindsey Graham to Ankara at the weekend and a call between US President Donald Trump and Mr Erdogan on Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo followed up with another phone conversation on Monday with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

According to the State Department “they discussed ongoing US-Turkish engagement as part of the deliberate and co-ordinated withdrawal of US forces from Syria”.

Washington “reiterated the commitment of the United States to addressing Turkish security concerns along the Turkey-Syria border, while emphasising the importance that the United State places on the protection of forces that worked with the United States and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS”.